§ MR. LAYARDI rise to ask my noble Friend at the head of the Government whether it is in his power to lay upon the table of the House any correspondence that has taken place between the allied Powers upon the subject of the treaty of the 2nd of December—any documents which have been communicated to the Russian Government upon the Four Points—and whether he has any objection to place upon the table protocols which, it is understood, have been signed, giving a construction to at least two of those Four Points?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONIt is an invariable practice, and it is a wholesome custom, while important negotiations are pending, not to lay before Parliament fragmentary portions of the correspondence which may have taken place on the subject. I, therefore, shall not be able to comply with the request of my hon. Friend. I may, however, say that no communications were made directly from the British to the Russian Government; that whatever took place has been conveyed through the medium of the Austrian Government, which was then friendly to both. Since the declaration of war, it is obvious that no direct communication could take place between the Governments of Russia and Great Britain.